Design Process of Extended Reality Educational Resources in Engineering: A Comparison of Three Cases in Latin American Universities

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic demanded educators to explore new methods to provide their students with practical activities, despite the lockdown measures around the world. The use of Extended Reality (XR) technology, which includes Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR), offers special tools to transform the learning experience in engineering education with immersive environments. This study presents a comparison of the process followed to design XR resources for engineering education applications at three different universities in Latin America. The motivation of this work is to share the design experience, as well as the lessons learned and recommendations for educators that are looking into adopting XR technology in their courses. Even though the group of professors worked together along the project, the design of the immersive experience and the XR resource was different for each university according to its specific context and needs. The design process comprises the resource conceptual definition, the technological development, and the final product with academic use. The three design processes were compared to identify lessons learned, best practices, and recommendations for future XR resources in engineering education. XR technologies have a great potential in engineering education closing the gap between the classroom and the real-life practice using the principles of educational innovation.